IFC Films Picks Up Andrea Arnold’s Buzzy Cannes Doc ‘Cow’

EXCLUSIVE: IFC Films has taken North American rights to Andrea Arnold’s well-received Cannes Film Festival documentary Cow.

Cow, which made its world premiere earlier this month in the newly created Cannes Premiere section, reps IFC and Arnold’s second teaming together after her award-winning Fish Tank, which starred Katie Jarvis and Michael Fassbender.

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U.S. sales rep Submarine Entertainment brokered the deal for Cow on behalf of the filmmakers. Submarine sold Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground to Apple TV+ back in October; that doc also made its world premiere at Cannes this year.

Cow was shot over seven years, and repped Arnold’s return to Cannes after her 2016 young-adult movie American Honey. It was produced by Kat Mansoor of Halcyon Pictures and executive produced by Rose Garnett of BBC Film and Maxyne Franklin and Sandra Whipham of Doc Society.

This film is an endeavour to consider cows. To move us closer to them. To see both their beauty and the challenge of their lives. Not in a romantic way but in a real way,” Arnold said. “It’s a film about one dairy cow’s reality and acknowledging her great service to us. When I look at Luma, our cow, I see the whole world in her.”

IFC Films president Arianna Bocco said: “We are beyond thrilled to reunite with Andrea again after the incredible debut of Fish Tank over a decade ago. Cow is a poignant extension of her remarkable career and we are looking forward to sharing this emotional and deeply universal story with audiences across North America.”

The deal for Cow was was negotiated by Bocco and IFC Director of Acquisitions Aijah Keith with Josh Braun, Ben Schwartz and Matt Burke of Submarine on behalf of the filmmakers. mk2 films handled worldwide sales outside of North America.

Deadline’s Tom Grater first reported that the doc recorded brisk business, with streaming service and theatrical distributor Mubi taking Italy, Germany, Austria and Latin America, as well as UK, Ireland and Turkey. Also taking Cow were ANZ (Madman), France (Ad Vitam), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Spain (Elastica), Scandinavia (Non Stop), Poland (Against Gravity), Portugal (Alambique), Romania (Independenta), and South Korea (Green Narae).

Cow reps Arnold’s fifth movie. She studied directing at the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles. After making several short films, she won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Wasp in 2005. In 2006, her first film Red Road won the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival and the BAFTA Carl Foreman Award. Her second film Fish Tank won the 2009 Cannes Jury Prize and the 2010 BAFTA for Best British Film. Her third film, Wuthering Heights was an adaptation of the Emily Brontë novel and premiered in Competition at the 2011 Venice Film Festival. American Honey was shot in the U.S. with Sasha Lane and Shia LaBeouf, and won Arnold her third Cannes Jury Prize in 2016.

She also directed the second season of HBO’s Big Little Lies.

Deadline’s review of the Arnold’s Cow said that it gives audiences “plenty to chew on.”

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